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Westcott SkyLux LED with soft box vs a Kino Diva 401
  • shangoshango

    I'm shooting interviews where I'll be balancing for daylight. Some indoors in a window lit room. Some outdoors in shaded areas where I need a bit more punch. I generally like the diva lights though haven't yet tried them outdoors. On the other hand, the Westcott SkyLux LED seems to have a bit more versatility. Also, with a 48" soft box on it, it should be much softer than the diva. My big concern would be loosing so much light from the soft box that it really won't have the punch I'm looking for. I thought I'd see if anyone has experience with both of these lights and could "illuminate" the differences a bit?

  • 10 Replies sorted by
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    I think it is very unlikely that you'll find answer as question is very specific and about pricey rare light.

  • shangoshango

    Same price as the Diva, roughly and available at B&H, not so rare, maybe just too new. Maybe somebody will chime in.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    You can just make test using light meter, even at the B&H. By idea light loss must not be big in total, but light falloff with distance will be much worse, as led is quite directional.

    Any why you really want to use Westcott SkyLux LED with softbox? You can get much cheaper lights with same light quality - http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/10284/high-cri-95-led-lights#Item_10

  • tonalttonalt

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev Url to comparison?

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Url to comparison?

    What URL? You can just check actual measurement.

  • tonalttonalt

    I don't believe manufacturer's measurements, especially Chinese.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    I don't believe manufacturer's measurements, especially Chinese.

    Here we go again. It is NOT manufacturer measurements. They are made independently (we'll have much more measurements with time).

  • evilkenevilken

    A few things to consider; Kino is naturally quite soft without modifiers due to its size, and when you orientate it sideways it wraps around the subject well. Skylux has separate ballast, and soft boxes are a big faff and spill light everywhere. That said, my Kino goes through bulbs quite fast and they are £20 a pop, so LED has a clear advantage in that area.

  • shangoshango

    Frankly, I'm looking for something lighter than the the Kino kit. It's just too big and heavy to travel with for only 1 light. Also, the universal version, the diva 400 is much more expensive.

    If I knew that there was another brand of flo light that is lighter and as reliable as the kino's, I'd probably go for it.

    I've also considered LED panels. I'm trying an Ikan 1024 later this week. I'm gonna pick up some 1/8 minus green just in case. However, I really need a soft box replacement and I don't think the panels will have the CRI or the output to do it as well as kino.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @shango

    If you just look around a little, you'll find very high CRI 1024 panels, much better than Ikan

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/10284/high-cri-95-led-lights#Item_12

    I think you already saw them. They are really affordable.

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